Wednesday,
August 8, 2007
By DANA C. SILANO
Evening Times Staff Writer
Two years in the making, a
promotional DVD for the city of Little Falls is wrapping up and should be ready
for purchase by the time the 20th anniversary Canal Celebration gets under way
on Wednesday.
The project was announced in October 2005, and the documentary was made by
students and members of the audiovisual department at Herkimer County Community
College as a promotional piece to get the word out about what happens in Little
Falls.
“Little Falls: A Renaissance City” is the third of such movies made to discuss
and promote the city.
First Ward Alderman Rocco Scarano began discussions of the new DVD about two
years ago to promote the city and entice industry, business and people to come
here. “The whole purpose is to have it available to promote the community,” he
said. “The hospital is always looking for doctors, and realtors are looking to
get people into local homes. The DVD will point out what a great place Little
Falls is to live and to work.”
Previously, two other movies had been made promoting Little Falls, one dated
back to 1972, and another from the late 1990s. “They were a little out of date
and not as hard-hitting as far as promoting,” Rocco said, although commending
the work done on the other movies. “We will be turning this project over to the
Civic Club, who will duplicate it and get it ready for sale.” Proceeds will
benefit one of the organization's community projects, to be earmarked.
Rocco said that in the DVD, a 15-minute documentary, a lot of interviews were
conducted with people born and raised in Little Falls, as well as those people
he calls “transplants,” people who came to love the city and decided to move
here.
“Everyone we interviewed was very enthusiastic about this,” he said. “Throughout
the DVD, people are asked to give a spin on why they like living here and what
the community has to offer. We have tried to highlight the importance of our
natural resources such as the Erie Canal and the abundance of water; our
industries, businesses, restaurants, good schools, great libraries and local
family YMCA; our recreational facilities and the new boat launch at Rotary Park.
We allude to our many banking facilities, as well as our greenscapes like
Moreland Park, and to our having one of the highest lift locks in the world, a
hydroelectric plant and a New York State Thruway exit for easy access. We also
showcase the fact that we have a daily newspaper, a radio station and a good
hospital facility, and we put the whole package together.”
There is a lengthy list of local businesses that donated money into the making
of the promotional DVD.
The city of Little Falls contributed a great deal of money, as well as the city
school district, Ward Associates, Little Falls Hospital, Burrows Paper Co.,
Feldmeier Corp., Lasalle Labs, Bank of America, Partners Trust Bank, Adirondack
Bank, A.M. Blask Realty and Overlook Ridge.
Members of the DVD's development committee that greatly aided in the production
were Dave Casullo, Carl Marrucci, Clete McLaughlin, Tony DeLuca and Martin
Babinec, and members of the HCCC audiovisual program, Mike Giudice, Mary Ann
Carroll and Dick Friedrich. Everyone who was involved, from interviewees, the
mayor, the city and committee members, donors and volunteers all played
important roles in the video's production, Rocco said.